Willingham, ND remain perfect

Top 25 Roundup

Posted: Sunday, October 06, 2002

By Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Shane Walton and Courtney Watson each scored on interceptions returns and Rashon Power-Neal ran for a 3-yard touchdown to help No. 9 Notre Dame win a mistake-filled game against Stanford 31-7 Saturday.

Irish coach Tyrone Willingham -- who was Stanford's coach for the last seven years -- joins Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian and Jesse Harper as the only full-time Notre Dame coaches to open 5-0 in their first seasons at the school.

Notre Dame already has matched its win total from last season, and Willingham has his longest winning streak since Stanford won its last five games of the 1996 season.

Stanford (1-3) is off to its worst start since opening 1998 with one win in its first nine games. The Cardinal, who gave up 65 points in a loss to Arizona State a week earlier, have given up 96 points in two weeks, its worst performance since allowing 98 points in 1998 in a 63-28 loss to Oregon and 35-17 loss to Notre Dame.

The Cowboys (2-3, 0-1 Big 12) got in position to tie the game on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Josh Fields to John Lewis with four minutes left. After Babers' tackle, he sealed the win for the Longhorns (5-0, 1-0) with an interception at midfield.

Entering next week's showdown against rival Oklahoma, Texas is 5-0 for the first time since 1983. But it wasn't easy.

Leading 17-9 with 7:56 to play, Texas had Oklahoma State pinned at its own 1. The Cowboys got out of the hole quickly with a 25-yard pass from Fields to Rashaun Woods, and a 25-yard run by Seymore Shaw that moved the ball to midfield.

Facing third-and-23, Fields threw a prayer to Lewis, who came down with the ball just inside the goal line for the touchdown. On the 2-point try, Fields found Woods at the goal line, but his back was turned to the end zone, and Babers stopped him before he could get across.

The Golden Bears (4-2, 1-1 Pac-10) beat Washington (3-2, 0-1) for the first time since Nov. 9, 1976. They also ended a 17-game homefield winning streak by the Huskies.

Boller was 13 of 24 without an interception, outdueling Washington's Cody Pickett, the nation's No. 2 passer. Pickett finished 35 of 59 for 399 yards, but he threw two interceptions.

After the final seconds ticked off, the Bears gathered in front of the Cal band in the southwest corner of Husky Stadium to salute a contingent of fans.

The Huskies rallied to beat California the last three years, and they seemed confident they could do it again. Pickett's 1-yard TD run on an option play pulled Washington to 34-24 with 4:03 remaining.

Greg Carothers recovered a fumble by Joe Igber on Cal's ensuing series, and the Huskies reached the final margin on John Anderson's fourth field goal of the day, a 37-yarder with 1:54 to play.

Geoff McArthur recovered the ensuing onside kick for Cal, and the Bears ran out the clock.

COLORADO 35, No. 13 KANSAS STATE 31: At Boulder, Colo., Robert Hodge threw three touchdown passes and Chris Brown ran for 167 yards and two scores as Colorado held on to beat No. 13 Kansas State in the Big 12 opener for both teams.

Colorado (3-2) opened defense of its conference championship with 483 yards of total offense and scoring plays of 94, 85 and 71 yards.

Kansas State (4-1), which had scoring plays of 71 and 80 yards, rallied from a 35-14 deficit early in the third quarter but had to settle for a field goal with 2:16 left instead of a tying touchdown.

Wildcats quarterback Ell Roberson, who ran for 178 yards and threw for 83 more, was sacked by defensive tackle Sam Wilder for a 9-yard loss on third down at the Colorado 18.

Brite kicked the field goal, and K-State didn't get the ball back.

No. 20 PENN STATE 34, No. 19 WISCONSIN 31: At Madison, Wisc., Lee Evans' absence finally caught up with Wisconsin, on the very day he'd hoped to return to the Badgers' lineup.

Zack Mills guided Penn State on seven scoring drives, Robbie Gould kicked four field goals and Jimmy Kennedy had four sacks as the 20th-ranked Nittany Lions beat the 19th-ranked Badgers.

Larry Johnson had 171 all-purpose yards for the Nittany Lions (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) before leaving with a hamstring injury in the second half.

The Badgers (5-1, 0-1) were hoping to have their star playmaker back for their first conference game, but the Big Ten's leading receiver in 2001 was on the sideline in shorts. He injured his left knee in the spring game April 20.

The Badgers hadn't missed Evans too much until Saturday, when their offensive line couldn't hold off the Nittany Lions' pass rush, and their group of young receivers made several crucial mistakes in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 28-23 with 11:24 left, the Badgers got the ball at the Penn State 47, their best field position all afternoon. But sophomore Darren Charles had his second drop of the game, then freshman Jonathan Orr let a perfect pass from Brooks Bollinger bounce off his chest at the 25 on third down.

The Nittany Lions capitalized by moving 40 yards in seven plays for Gould's career-long 51-yard field goal that made it 31-23.

TEXAS TECH 48, No. 23 TEXAS A&M 47 OT: At College Station, Texas, Kliff Kingsbury threw his fifth touchdown pass in overtime and Robert Treece followed with the extra point as Texas Tech rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat 23rd-ranked Texas A&M.

The Aggies' loss spoiled a stellar performance by quarterback Dustin Long, who threw seven touchdown passes to set a Big 12 record. His last score was a 3-yard strike to Terrence Thomas in the extra period that put Texas A&M ahead 47-41.

But John Pierce missed the extra point -- his second one of the game -- to leave the door open for the Red Raiders (4-2).

The Big 12 opener for both teams turned into a quarterback duel as Kingsbury completed 48 of 58 passes for 468 yards. He hit Nehemiah Glover for a 10-yard touchdown on Tech's overtime possession.

No. 24 IOWA 31, PURDUE 28: At Iowa City, Iowa, Brad Banks threw a touchdown pass to Dallas Clark on fourth-and-goal with 1:07 left in the game to rally No. 24 Iowa.

Iowa (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) trailed 28-24 with five minutes left in the game before coming back. On the game-winning drive, Banks led the Hawkeyes 87 yards in eight plays with no timeouts after Purdue (3-3, 1-1) rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit.